2 Ways to Get Kids to Eat Vegetables (That Actually Work)

As a part of every check-up, my pediatrician asks me about what my children (ages 2 and 4) are eating. "Are they getting lots of vegetables? Especially dark leafy greens, and iron-rich foods like broccoli?" she asks, one eyebrow raised skeptically.

"Oh, absolutely. Lots." I reply, while avoiding direct eye contact. I'm not exactly lying - my kids are getting plenty of healthy foods. They just aren't really eating them, at least not as much as I'd like them to.

I've heard all sorts of advice about overcoming the Vegetable Problem. Hide them in other foods, serve them first and leave the chicken and pasta for later, add lots of seasonings for flavor, make a big fuss over how much youlove broccoli to fool them into thinking it's delicious. In my experience, these techniques aren't all that helpful. So like many a desperate parent, I have decided to resort to bribes.

Psychologists (myself included) frequently warn against using rewards to encourage behavior in children, because extrinsic rewards like treats, money, or even effusive praise can undermine a child's intrinsic motivation to do something they already enjoy or find meaningful. Once a child is rewarded for eating particular foods (the logic goes), they are less likely to eat those foods willingly once the rewards are removed.

While studies have shown that the danger of rewarding desired behaviors is very real when it comes to activities children already enjoy, like reading or solving math problems, it's possible that rewarding a child for eating vegetables might prove more effective. When your child already doesn't like vegetables, there isn't any intrinsic motivation to undermine.

In fact, new research by psychologist Lucy Cooke and her colleagues at University College London shows that with rewards, children not only eat their vegetables, but learn to like them, too.

At the beginning of the study, 422 children (ages 4-6) where shown six vegetables (carrot, red pepper, sugar snap pea, cabbage, cucumber, and celery). They were asked to taste a piece of each, rate how much they liked it (on a scale from yummy to yucky), and put them in order of best-to-worst tasting.

The researchers focused on the fourth-ranked vegetable for each child, inviting them to eat as much as they wanted, and measuring the amount eaten (usually, not much.)

The children were then offered that vegetable again on each of the next twelve days. Some of the children were offered a tangible reward (a sticker) for eating it, some were enthusiastically praised for eating it, and others were not given any kind of reward. (Children in the control group were not offered the vegetable each day.)

At the end of the twelve days, and again after 1 month and 3 months, the researchers offered the vegetable again to all the children, but this time without any rewards, and observed how much they freely chose to eat.

Initially, after the rewards were removed, the children who were given a tangible reward ate the most of their vegetables. Those who received praise, and those who were simply exposed to the vegetable each day, ate less than the sticker group, but still ate significantly more than the control group.

But after three months, the sticker group was no different than the praise group - and both groups were eating nearly twice as much of their vegetable, of their own free will, than the control group kids.

So if you want to encourage your children to embrace the delights of broccoli and green beans (and be able to look your pediatrician directly in the eye), try introducing rewards into your dining routine. If you aren't comfortable with the idea of paying your kids to eat, the good news is that some enthusiastic cheerleading works just as well in the long run. Personally, I'm planning on investing in a lot of stickers.

As much as I could reward or cheerlead, I had a gag-reflex for broccoli and some other veggies as a kid (it was a texture thing). I cannot bribe my two year old to eat green veggies... no rewards work ( tried it repeatedly ). Actually, for certain ones it worked -- like getting her to eat carrots and peas and mushrooms, but the green things were still a texture issue. In the end, it WAS easier to just hide it. We make green smoothies every morning and she helps me. She now even asks me for spinach juice ( spinach + mango + water ) or kale juice ( kale + cherries + apple ). I think both methods have their merits -- hey, we do whatever works.

I couldn't agree more "we do whatever works" I have just published a children’s book “The Veggie Adventures” which is one of the stories I used to tell my kids around the dinner table to get them to eat their vegetables. I turned the vegetables into superheros and had them bashing the germs. These stories worked so well 10 years later I have published them. I have started reading my book in schools and love seeing kids get excited about eating there vegetables. It is very rewarding.

I agree you do whatever works, i have just published a childern's book, "The Veggie Adventures" about stories i used to tell my kids around the dinner table to get them to eat their vegetables. I turned all the vegetables into super heros and would tell them how each one would bash the germs in their bodies. The stories worked so well 10 years later i have decided to put them out there in a book. I have started to read in schools and i love getting the kids excited about vegetables. It is so very rewarding.

Green smoothies work excellent for me and my son - spinach, kale, celery, arugula, parsley, collards - you name it. Plus, crunchy veggies, such as raw carrots, peppers - work much better than cooked. If cooked - then in a soup - either chunky or blended.

Green smoothies work excellent for me and my son - spinach, kale, celery, arugula, parsley, collards - you name it. Plus, crunchy veggies, such as raw carrots, peppers - work much better than cooked. If cooked - then in a soup - either chunky or blended.

I find that any kind of food becomes less of a battleground if there is fun involved. When my son was younger, we used to have counting competitions,'how many spoonfuls?' guessing games and who can finish their greens first competitions. I know this won't work for every child though. I recently blogged on this topic at http://cakeandcalico.com/top-ten-ways-to-get-children-to-eat-veg/ if you'd like some more ideas...! :-D